Less than three per cent voting in Shopian-Pulwama

With only 2.81 per cent polling in Shopian and Pulwama, which voted in the third phase of election for the Anantnag parliamentary constituency, questions are being raised about Mehbooba Mufti’s electoral fate. The Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president is locked in a close fight with the Jammu & Kashmir Congress president Ghulam Ahmad Mir and the National Conference’s (NC) Hasnain Masoodi, a retired judge.

Anantnag, the erstwhile PDP bastion, Anantnag witnessed dismal polling in all the three phases as people stayed indoors to register their protest against contentious issues such as the BJP’s threat to the State’s special status and the return of search and cordon operations despite opposition from regional leaders Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, both former Chief Ministers of Jammu & Kashmir. The encounter in Shopian on May 3, barely three days before polling was scheduled in Shopian and Pulwama, added to the prevailing mood to boycott the election.

On May 3, Lateef Ahmad Dar, alias Tiger of Dogripora, Pulwama, Tariq Ahmad Sheikh of Moolu Chitragam of Shopian and Shariq Ahmad Nengroo of Chotigam, Shopian, all local youths who had joined the Hizbul Mujahideen, were killed in a gun battle at Imam sahib village, in Wachi, Shopian. At least 19 civilians suffered injuries during the clashes with security forces that erupted as the news about the encounter spread. The developments dashed the hopes of political workers across party lines to mobilise voters. The fact that the fourth-day namaz of the slain coincided with the election day, on May 6, added to their predicament.

The PDP insiders see a “conspiracy” to damage Mehbooba’s election prospects and believe that the “encounter was engineered to keep voters away”. A senior MLA from the party who spoke off-the-record to Frontline , had this to say: “Why would they [the BJP-led government at the Centre] give the green signal for an encounter in the PDP bastion of Wachi if not to damage our chances at the hustings? They are aware of the tense atmosphere, they are aware that every encounter is followed by lots of people coming out to mourn the ‘martyr’. After the encounters at Wachi, the funeral processions of all three militants witnessed a crowd of 10,000 each. We were expecting to win with a lead of 8,000 to 10,000 from Wachi. But with only 1,434 people turning out to vote from this segment, we had a huge setback there.”

A senior journalist in the valley, Shams Irfan, who was in Pulwama on election day, said it was a curfew-like situation all around, followed by stone pelting. “I witnessed heavy stone pelting near the Government Degree College, Pulwama. The streets were all deserted and given the fact that 11 polling booths, including those from Kareemabad, which is 4 km away, were clubbed there, it was only natural on part of the voters to not venture out. More importantly, there was a strong resentment brewing among the people following the May 3 encounters.”

In the first two phases of Anantnag Lok Sabha election, on April 23 and April 29, over 85 per cent of the electorate kept away from the hustings. While the voter turnout was 13.63 per cent in Anantnag, it dipped further to 10.32 percent in Kulgam. Mehbooba Mufti’s family pocket borough Bijbehara saw a dismal 2.4 per cent of the voters turn out to cast their ballots.